


With You

by Deathtouch



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hotels, Implied Relationships, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 11:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15907776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deathtouch/pseuds/Deathtouch
Summary: ☛ in which the trial against the deadlock gang is about to begin and gabriel sees jesse again for the first time in a long time"Nothing to be worried about," Gabriel told him, relaxing back casually.That was a lie, of course. Everything was riding on this trial. Jesse knew it too. They could lose. No one in the gang would be set free - there was too much incriminating evidence for that - but they could be given shorter sentences or be placed in minimum-security prisons. They would come for Jesse the minute they were released. They needed to be put behind bars for a good long while, and Jesse’s testimony on the witness stand was the only thing would accomplish that.





	With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crookedfingers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedfingers/gifts).



> written as a _thank you_ to the generous [crookedfingers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedfingers) for the mcreyes charity week event. please check out the event's [tumblr](https://mcreyes4charity.tumblr.com/) / [twitter,](https://twitter.com/mcreyes4charity) and[ all the other works](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/mcreyes4charity) created for this event! thanks to all the people who donated, all the other writers and artists who participated and the wonderful mods for all their hard work. 
> 
> i dont know anything about court stuff or the military irl, just what the tv taught me, so sorry for any inaccuracies. 
> 
> thanks and maximum respect to by beta [subwaywolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubwayWolf/pseuds/SubwayWolf), without whom i am lost.

Private jets were a perk of the job, Gabriel supposed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd flown in one, though. Usually if he was flying anywhere, it was in the hold of a carrier with half his men in tow, strapped for a combat drop, calling out orders over the roar of the engines.  
  
He tapped his fingers on the armrest of his seat, looking across the aisle to where Jesse was sitting against a window.  
  
"Feeling okay?" Gabe asked.  
  
Jesse glanced over at him. His brown hair was clipped short, all the recruits had high-and-tights. He looked so different with short hair. Gabe would let him grow it out once he graduated; he didn't mind. He wasn't a stickler for the grooming standard like they were in basic training.  
  
Jesse stared at him for a long moment and then shrugged. "Dunno."  
  
That was a good enough answer.  
  
It had been a year and a half since they had last seen one another. Two years since Blackwatch had made their move on the Deadlock Gang. A year and eleven months since they cut a deal for Jesse to join up instead of going to prison. A year and a half since the grand jury hearing against the gang members. Gabriel wished he was seeing Jesse again under any other circumstance, but he was glad just to see Jesse at all.  
  
He stood up, stooping slightly so that his head wouldn't hit the top of the cabin. He crossed the aisle and sat down in the white leather seat which faced Jesse. He wasn't sure why he'd even bothered to sit so far away in the first place. Maybe he thought Jesse just needed some space; a ridiculous notion. They were in this together and Jesse needed to know that.  
  
"Nothing to be worried about," Gabriel told him, relaxing back casually.  
  
That was a lie, of course. Everything was riding on this trial. Jesse knew it too. They could lose. No one in the gang would be set free - there was too much incriminating evidence for that - but they could be given shorter sentences or be placed in minimum-security prisons. They would come for Jesse the minute they were released. They needed to be put behind bars for a good long while, and Jesse’s testimony on the witness stand was the only thing would accomplish that.  
  
Gabriel laced his fingers behind his head. "They haven't got a snowball’s chance, Jess."   
  
That was a lie too, but he sold it.  
  
Jesse smiled.  


* * *

  
The air in Albuquerque was stifling. As soon as they stepped onto the tarmac, Gabe regretted his choice of black Under Armor and Crye Precision combat pants. Then again, it wasn't like he owned anything else. Jesse was already rolling up his sleeves behind Gabe as they made their way to the concourse.  
  
Gabriel picked up a car from the rental place; a two-year-old black Denali. The seat buckles were hot irons and the leather was uncomfortable. Gabe immediately rolled down the windows, forcing the hot air to make a breeze for them as they hit the interstate.  
  
They set out for White Rock, a nothing town about an hour and a half up the road, half way between Los Alamos and Santa Fe. During the motions and hearings phase, it somehow got determined that in order for the Deadlock gang members to get a fair trial, they had to move the proceedings from Sante Fe county to Los Alamos county. White Rock, known only for White Rock Canyon, suddenly became the center of everything for this court case. Gabriel wasn’t particularly looking forward to staying there.  
  
"Thinking about getting your license?" Gabe asked.  
  
Jesse was unusually quiet. He only shrugged in reply. Hell, he was almost twenty. In a year or so he’d be able to drink. He should be able to drive a car.  
  
“Picked an MOS yet?” Gabriel pressed him.  
  
Jesse was nearing the end of his basic training. Overwatch, and by extension Blackwatch, had longer recruit training programs than most national militaries. It didn’t help that Jesse was constantly being pulled from his unit to participate in the Deadlock trial. He would be graduating soon, though. It was about time he chose how he wanted to further his career. He would end up on the Blackwatch strike team without a doubt. It was just a question of what, exactly, he would do for the team. Gabriel expected him to go for one of the many infantry positions; reconnaissance might suit him nicely.  
  
Jesse shrugged again, staring out at the desert landscape. As they left the city limits, mesas began to rise in the distance, their flat tops covered in sparse greenery. Hoodoos and tent rocks poked up from the sun-baked ground the interstate ran through.  
  
Jesse watched it all pass by. If he didn’t want to talk, Gabriel wouldn’t make him. No sense in forcing conversation. It really had been a while since they’d seen each other. Jesse would warm up to him again in no time.  
  
When the AC finally turned cool enough that it wasn’t blowing hot air at them anymore, Gabe rolled up the windows. A noticeable silence filled the SUV.  
  
“I hate being back here,” Jesse muttered, shaking his head.  
  
Gabriel frowned.  


* * *

  
“I think this is the same room from last time,” Gabriel said. It looked about as ugly as he remembered.  
  
A year and a half ago, when they had been summoned to White Rock to testify at the grand jury hearing, they stayed in this same hotel, and apparently this same room. Thankfully, the grand jury phase only lasted a few days. Afterwards, Jesse had gone back to basic training, and Gabriel had gone back to commanding Blackwatch. The actual trial would last longer. The attorney kept saying ‘two weeks, if we’re lucky’ but Gabriel knew it would be more like two months.  
  
He shuffled inside, dumping his duffle on the luggage rack. Just about everything in the American Southwest seemed to be stuck in time. If someone told him that nothing in New Mexico had changed for the last hundred years, Gabriel would believe it. Case in point, the county court house actually demanded witnesses be present for trials instead of video conferencing in. It was damn near archaic, and a pain in the ass for everyone involved.  
  
“You bring your dress blues?” Jesse asked, watching as Gabriel put a garment bag in the closet.  
  
“Yeah, they want me all done up for the witness stand.” Technically Gabriel was an ‘arresting officer’ and they needed his version of the events that occurred during the raid of the Deadlock gang’s base.  
  
In Gabe’s opinion, it severely defeated the purpose of being in a covert black ops group if he had to come forward and describe Blackwatch missions in detail to a court room full of people. According to the prosecuting attorney, they had a better chance of putting the gang members away for life if he spoke. For Jesse’s sake he was here, with his dress blues, ready to take the stand.  
  
“I like when you wear those,” Jesse told him, smiling privately to himself as he went about unpacking his bag. It was the happiest he’d looked since Gabe had plucked him from his night infiltration training course back at base camp.  
  
Gabriel went to him, wrapping his arms around Jesse’s waist. Jesse stilled a moment before continuing on like he wasn’t being hugged, like Gabe wasn’t nosing into the short hairs at the back of his neck, like there was no one whispering in his ear.  
  
“I know you do.”  
  
Jesse grinned.  


* * *

  
Gabriel woke in the middle of the night. He didn’t even need to glance at the clock to know it was late. There was no light coming in through the curtains, not even moon light, but the bathroom light was on. He pushed himself up onto his elbow and rubbed his eyes. It took him a few seconds, but he realized there was no one in bed with him. The Jesse-shaped space beside him was empty.  
  
He got out of bed, not bothering to find a shirt. He followed the light source, squinting out at the relative brightness. He found Jesse standing in the bathroom with his back to the counter, arms crossed over his chest.  
  
“Didn’t mean to wake ya,” he said in that low drawl of his.  
  
Gabe was just about to ask, ‘what are you doing up?’ but it was pretty obvious why he would be up at this time of night. They were meeting with the prosecutor tomorrow morning. They would spend the whole day going over testimony and preparing for what the defense might ask. Of course Jesse was up. He would never admit it, but he was probably nervous.  
  
“Sometimes, I swear it feels like I’ll never be free of this place,” Jesse said. It was an unexpected comment.  
  
He made a gesture with his hand, broad and vague. He wasn’t talking about the bathroom, or the hotel, or even White Rock. He was talking about New Mexico, as a whole. That was a reasonable worry, though not the one Gabriel expected to have been weighing on Jesse’s mind tonight.  
  
Gabe went to stand in the bathroom doorway, frowning softly. “I promised you would be.” That promise was two years old now. They’d had to back track a couple times, but it was a promise Gabe intended to keep.  
  
Jesse just shook his head and sighed. “Yeah? For how long? Until the sentencing hearings? Until one of ’ems up for parole?”  
  
“Hey,” Gabriel moved in to wrap his arms tightly around Jesse’s shoulders. Jesse stayed stubbornly still for a long moment before he gave in, uncrossing his arms so he could hug Gabe back. “The closer we are to finishing this trial, the closer you are to never coming back to New Mexico ever again. Soon, all of this is going to be a distant memory.”  
  
Jesse sighed again, his breath warm on Gabriel’s bare skin. “I hate it here so much, Gabriel.”  
  
“I know,” Gabriel told him. “I know.”  


* * *

  
They had severely overestimated how long it would take to swing by the coffee shop on the way to the prosecuting attorney’s office. It should have been obvious with a town this small that there wouldn’t be any lines. They were in and out in a matter of minutes, Gabe with a black coffee and Jesse politely declining anything at all.  
  
Because they had overshot their timing by at least fifteen minutes, they had fuck all to do but stand around outside the legal office. With just their luck, the building was locked. The morning sun was already hot enough to turn the Denali into an oven so there was no sense sitting in there. Gabriel casually leaned back against the SUV as he sipped his coffee, hoping to God the prosecutor would show up early. He’d sweat through his clothes if he had to wait out here for too long.  
  
“One of the MTOs in transpo said he’d show me how to drive,” Jesse said, breaking the quiet. “An’ I’m going for recon.”  
  
Gabriel looked over at him, smiling softly.  
  
“Sorry about last night,” Jesse added after a long moment. “Didn’t mean to keep you up like that.”  
  
“It’s fine,” Gabe told him. That’s why he was here, more than anything. Sure, his testimony helped, but someone had to be here for Jesse. It just wasn’t right to let him do this all on his own. They were in this together. Gabriel was going to see it through with him all the way to the end.  
  
Jesse scuffed his toe against the curb, kicking at the concrete. “It ain’t so bad with you.”  
  
Gabriel gazed at Jesse, sipping his coffee instead of asking what that meant.  
  
“Being here? I know I said I hate it, but… it’s ain’t so bad with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> send requests or prompts ➝ [here](https://curiouscat.me/deathtouch)  
> follow me on twitter ➝ [here](https://twitter.com/deathtouchxx)  
> thanks for reading ✩°｡⋆


End file.
